Damage processes in laminates can be inherently complex. As a result, prior methods to simulate damage in composite laminates rely on high fidelity numerical (i.e., finite element) models. A primary disadvantage of prior high fidelity simulation models is that they can be cost inhibitive in terms of required user expertise, model development time, and computational resources. Often existing tools are not feasible for use outside of research or academic type environments because, even for consideration of a simple damage process in small structures, their use requires a high level of training and time. Furthermore, if a model becomes too high fidelity and involves too many interacting damage processes, there are more sources for error to appear and magnify. There are ways to mitigate these disadvantages such as dividing models of complex structures into component level models, or locally refining fidelity around the expected area of damage. However, in doing this, additional time and expertise is required, knowledge of expected behavior beforehand is required, and the model results can be influenced by the model creator. Difficulties associated with high fidelity models could be overcome if an accurate lower-fidelity simulation tool was available.
Accordingly, there is a need for a tool to simulate damage processes in composite laminates that is rapid and less demanding in terms of user expertise, model development time and computational resources, but of equal or similar accuracy and as a higher fidelity model.